The continuing ethnographic research explores the socioeconomic context of drug use and commerce in a deteriorated, multi-ethnic neighborhood on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Based on previous ethnographic work which included a census of the socioeconomic features of the entire area, and utilizing the community study approach, it seeks to document the proposition that blocked access to legally approved occupations, may induce some of the residents into illegal careers which include drug commerce. Through ethnographic methods as participant observation, interviews, collection of genealogies, and tracing of kin and friend networks it seeks to describe and assess: 1. The function and structure of drug commerce in a deteriorated neighborhood. 2. The impact on the individual, family and neighborhood of a pervasive drug trade. The short-range economic benefits and long-range social and economic debilitation. 3. Some successful strategies available to the individuals, families and the neighborhood for economic well-being which have been and could be more widely utilized.